I have been asked so many times to tell you guys how I lost weight so here it is:

I'm a Vegan.I strongly believe in the ethical treatment of animals. Cutting meat out my diet was one of the best decisions of my life. Why? Because it limited my options of fast food and opened my eyes to whole new range of healthy foods to eat. I attribute most of my weight loss to Veganism. The documentary Earthlings opened my eyes on where meat comes from and strongly recommend it to anyone who eats meat to watch it (and it's free to watch online just follow the link). This book called Skinny Bitch is amazing! It completely motivated to change my whole lifestyle by being both informative and entertaining. For those of you who would like to become Vegan but feel it would be too extreme of a shift from their current habits I suggest becoming Vegetarian first. I was Vegetarian for a year before I became a Vegan, this made the transition easier.

Drink 2 litres of water a day. I have two 1 litre bottles that I fill up with water every morning and make a goal to finish them both by the end of the day. This assures me that I've had my daily intake recommended by doctors and fills me up so I eat less too.

Exercise. I exercise everyday. I go for a jog every morning, which to begin with was torture but believe it or not I now enjoy it. I started out by going for 30 minute walks everyday which turned into 1 hour walks, after 2 months I became fit enough to start jogging in intervals where I would walk for 5 min then jog for 5 min, then walk for 5 min and so fourth. Eventually my fitness had developed well enough to be able to jog for an hour continuously. I also try fit in other exercises when I'm free and mix it up so I don't get lazy or bored with it. I love doing Pilates, Yoga, Aerobics and Gym ball exercises. When I couldn't afford to go to a gym I would watch videos on youtube. Even though weight loss is 30% exercise and 70% diet I think it is still important to exercise as it will help you tone up and prevent your skin from sagging from the weight loss.

How I eat.I used to miss breakfast when I was overweight as I wasn't hungry in the mornings. I learnt on Oprah on a weight loss special that the reason I probably wasn't hungry was because I ate the night before and was still full the next day. I now eat breakfast everyday and I don't eat after 6 pm. When I was overweight I would only eat 2 big heavy meals a day, and starve the rest of the day. Now, I eat 5-6 small meals a day. Eating more frequently through-out the day helps boost your metabolism, eating small portions also helps you stay fuller so you are less likely to binge on unhealthy food.

My advice to you: Never say you are going to start tomorrow, start TODAY. Even if it's 8 o'clock at night you should start right now. If you say you'll start tomorrow it'll just turn into a cycle and you'll never start. Stay positive! In moments of weakness remember everyone who has lost weight has had the same weak moments as you they just didn't give in to the negative thoughts, tell yourself you can do it and believe in it.